Ghosts of Reach
by stevebond1990
Summary: Spartans Never Die, They Just Go Missing In Action. One Spartan, presumed Dead over Reach, is found close to death years after the War, Far from home and fighting to save a Human World unknown to the UNSC. The UNSC believed their 'Earth' was the only Human Homeworld, so did the Forerunners, they were wrong. AU. Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

Ghosts of Reach

Prologue:

It was over.

Reach, Humanity's Great Fortress… Slowly, steadily turning to Fire, Ice and Glass.

All because of the Covenant.

The Army rifle thudded rhythmically against his shoulder three times, then five, then three more, behind him S-52's machine gun roared, a glance over his shoulder told him Jorge was mowing down a platoon of reinforcements coming up from the lower decks.

Another burst dropped the last Elite, exactly as the bolt slammed open with a snap that sounded as loud as a church bell in the hangar.

Jorge's MG fell silent as he turned around, a quick look showed that all hostiles were dead, the two Spartans shared a glance then headed back to the Pelican.

He reached it before Jorge, he input a command on the console, then swore loudly as an error message flashed on his HUD.

"So it's gonna be like that?" he sighed, he turned to face his brother, flinching as his armour protested the movement.

'_Time's finally caught up with me,'_ he thought, running his hand over the worn plating that had served him well for over twenty years.

"I've got good news and bad news," he began, shrugging off the re-entry pack, "this bird took some fire and the thruster gimble is toast."

"And the good news?" Jorge asked.

"That _was_ the good news," he deadpanned, "the bad news is the Timer's fried, it'll need to be fired manually."

"That's a one way trip," Jorge commented.

"We all pay that debt eventually," he said, letting his British accent slip for the first time in years, "You'd better get going, they'll need you down there…"

"Six, they need you…" Jorge started, picking up the re-entry pack and holding it out but his friend pushed it back.

"No," he said determinedly, "Reach is your Home, It's your right to fight for it, I won't take that from you."

"Six…"

"I won't be able to keep up with them," he admitted, glad he could hide his face behind his visor, "I'm old, Jorge, so is my Armour, unlike you, I haven't gotten spares in a long time, I'll be a liability."

Jorge looked at him sternly, "You aren't a liability, we wouldn't have been half as successful since this began without you."

He shrugged, "I'm a man of secrets, Kat told you all that, but she didn't tell you… I've a great many sins to my name, too many… this is my chance to redeem for some of them, don't take that away… please, brother."

Jorge stared in shock, then his eyes widened in recognition, "Orion?" he whispered.

The other Spartan gave only the briefest of nods, he took off his helmet and let it fall, holding Jorge's gaze as his fellow II stared in disbelieve, the man's eyes drinking in every detail of a face he hadn't seen in decades.

"Jorge…" Six began hesitantly, bringing the Reachman out of his trance, he hesitantly reached for his Dog Tags and pulled them over his head.

Jorge blinked as something gold reflected light into his eyes.

"…when you get to Earth… give these to her," Six said, regret thick in his voice, "Tell her… tell her I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise."

Jorge stared as the tags and chain fell into his hand, not noticing Six fit the re-entry pack to his armour, not until Six pushed him to the edge of the shield.

"Wait!" Jorge protested, "how will I know who to give these to?"

Six just looked at him sadly, "She'll come to you," he said, "she'll look for Noble, if not the last person to see me… promise me you'll get back? You'll find her for me?"

Jorge looked into his lost Brother's eyes and nodded, "I promise," he said solemnly.

"Thank you," Six said, gripping Jorge by the shoulders.

"Tell them… To Remember Reach…. Tell them that as long as one free human still draws breath, the hearts of our people can never be broken…. Tell them to remember our sacrifices…"

Six looked Jorge in the eye, his body coiled like a cobra ready to strike, "Tell Them… To. Make. It. Count…"

Six's body drew back ever so slightly and then he was falling…

It was beautiful… in a way, tranquil. The corvette grew smaller, shadowed by the massive bulk of the Carrier behind it, but he never took his eyes off of the smaller craft.

Just as his mind finally registered stars on either side of the Carrier's hull, there was an arc of lightning from the tiny purple speck he was watching, then a wave of purplish energy, finally a huge purple sphere exploded rapidly around the speck before expanding to encompass over a third of the Carrier's hull, severing it in two and sending the remaining parts into freefall.

* * *

><p>"Guess this is it?"<p>

Six spun around to find four of the Sabre pilots still alive, their body language showing a mix of terror and resignation.

"Gods, I'm sorry… I thought you'd all been killed," Six apologised quickly, "I might be able to throw you back up to your fighters if we're quick and Dot lowers the gravity…"

"It's ok, Sir," the smallest pilot said, he sounded young, "we knew it was a one way trip, Just… didn't think I'd go out with this big a bang."

"He's right, LT," the tallest pilot said in a Bronx accent, "we all made arrangements before setting out."

Six looked between the four men, each nodded in turn. Six walked back over to the rear of the Pelican and grasped the manual trigger, he looked to them over his shoulder then pulled.

* * *

><p>The rain seemed to embody the mood in the Falcon, not even Emile could say anything. Noble had lost their second Six, they hadn't been as close to him as his predecessor… perhaps that made it worse, they'd kept him at arm's length at first and only just started to warm up to him… No Noble would meet another's eye.<p>

Jorge looked at Kat, who was staring unseeingly out the door, he wondered if she blamed herself for Six's… no, Orion's death, it certainly didn't help Thom had been killed by a similar complication.

He took out Orion's tags numbly, if only to occupy his shaking hands… his hands never shook, and he hadn't cried since early boot camp, but he'd cried when the 'Bomb' activated…

Inspecting the tags, Jorge realised what had shone golden when Six had given them to him.

Looped into the chain were two gold rings, matching male and female, an intricate Celtic pattern was woven around the outside edge and there were Celtic letters on the inside face, forming two words.

"What have you got there?"

"Six's tags," Jorge told Emile, "and a pair of Engagement Rings."

Every Noble looked at him sharply.

"I didn't know he was engaged?" Emile said in wonder.

"I didn't know Spartans could get engaged," Kat retorted, "I've never heard of it happening."

"I heard of a II that applied to marry," Carter said softly, "but he was refused."

Jorge nodded sadly, he too knew of the II in question, "Six made me promise to get off Reach and give these to his girlfriend."

"With luck we can keep that promise," Carter declared.

An unspoken conversation was held as each member of Noble team glanced to each other, then back to Carter, silently agreeing.

* * *

><p>"We're Alive…"<p>

Six looked down his chest at the pilot who'd spoken, who'd also been knocked down by the Drive's activation.

"Dot? Can you access the ship's sensors and tell us where we are?" Six asked the Dumb AI he was issued.

The pilots looked at him curiously and were surprised when a cool female voice answered the Spartan, "Of course, Noble Six."

"Who was that?" the youngest asked.

"Dot," Six answered, "Noble team's dumb AI, we were all issued a copy."

"I have accessed the sensors," Dot said a few minutes later, "we are entering orbit of a world like Gaia but the constellations are wrong."

"What does she mean, Wrong?" the Bronx pilot asked, clearly dreading the answer.

"The constellations visible do not match UNSC star charts for Gaia, those that are visible are also in the wrong place," Dot answered, "The planet below is geographically identical to Gaia and possesses a Human population but the civilisation is considerably less advanced."

"How less advanced?"

"Late 20th Century," Dot confirmed.

"Shit!"

"You said it," Six muttered.

"Spatial rupture detected," Dot intoned, each man looked up then out the hangar shield. They couldn't see anything but they all had a funny feeling they were no longer alone.

"Two unidentified vessels have exited the rupture and are now approaching the sixth planet in the system," Dot informed.

"We should head for the bridge," the others didn't need telling twice.

* * *

><p>"Bra'tac?"<p>

The aged Jaffa struck out at O'Neill, sending the Colonel to the floor clutching his nose.

"Hassat!" the Jaffa exclaimed, "you have doomed yourselves _And_ your world!"

Daniel and Sam stared in shock as Bra'tac continued, "It is all I can do to keep you alive."

"Do you know all I have done to regain the trust of Apophis, and rejoin this Campaign?" he demanded indignantly, "Hmmm!"

"Tak'ma'tae Bra'tac," Teal'c greeted.

Bra'tac turned around and smiled at his friend and student, "hello again my friend," he greeted.

"Your son grows strong, one day he will be a great warrior," he informed Teal'c.

Teal'c took the news stoically.

"But you should not have come," Bra'tac informed them.

"I stand by my friends," Teal'c told him, "I believe this world may one day be our only hope in overcoming the False Gods."

"Yes," Bra'tac mused, looking over Daniel and Sam, "Pathetic as that may seem at this time?" he sighed heavily, "I agree."

"You do?" Daniel asked.

"I may even have been able to save this world," Bra'tac told him.

"Hey!"

They all looked to O'Neill who stood up, "What do ya think we've been trying to do?"

"It is our world you're talking about," he pointed out.

"Enough Human!" Bra'tac said forcefully, "this is not the place to talk of such things."

"I have been ordered by Apophis himself to execu…"

"_Bra'tac! Stay your hand, I wish the Tau'ri dogs to hear the destruction of their world's last defenders!"_

"I didn't expect that," Daniel stated.

"He must be preparing to engage your ships," Bra'tac concluded.

"Yeah… we don't have any," Jack explained.

"Yeah, we're basically limited to fighting through the Stargate," Daniel explained.

Bra'tac stared disbelievingly between the two.

"Then who is Apophis preparing to engage?"

"_Tau'ri! Surrender your ship and bow before your New God!"_

There was a haunting silence for several seconds.

"_Bow to your God? Not Bloody Likely, Invader! You want this planet? Then you can pry it from our Cold. Dead. Fingers!"_

"_Kaffa! Krenol!"_

"_Main Battery, Slag that flying junk heap! I Want It Out Of My Sky!"_

"Sir, that was definitely English!" Carter exclaimed.

"Maybe one of the other teams hijacked a ship from another Goa'uld," Daniel suggested.

"Doesn't matter," Jack said, looking at Bra'tac, "we don't want to be here when it starts firing!"

Bra'tac nodded, "agreed, come."

* * *

><p>"Stable orbit achieved," Dot stated finally.<p>

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, they'd really been unsure whether the damaged engines would allow them to reach safety.

"Staines, Brooklyn! Get down to the gunnery station, we're about to have company," Six ordered.

"I'm from the Bronx!"

"Get moving!"

The two pilots jogged out of the room, back tracking to the weapons stations.

"ETA of those ships?"

"Three minutes," Six swore.

"Not a lot of time," Baker noted.

"I have analysed the ships' defences, while they possess energy shields they are noticeably weaker, concentrated fire shall quickly overwhelm them," Dot informed them.

"Some good news," Cromer said, "I think the lead vessel is hailing us?"

"Put it up."

"Audio only, sir," Cromer said.

"_Tau'ri! Surrender your ship and bow before your New God!" _a distorted voice demanded.

Six cocked an eyebrow, then looked at Cromer and Baker who gave him equally disbelieving looks, "Bow to your God? Not Bloody Likely, Invader! You want this planet? Then you can pry it from our Cold. Dead. Fingers!"

"_Kaffa! Krenol!"_

"Main Battery, Slag that flying junk heap! I Want It Out Of My Sky!"

"Aye, Aye!" Staines replied over the comm.

* * *

><p>"We're away!" Carter called out gladly as the Death Gliders flew out of the hangar.<p>

"We're not out of the woods yet," Jack pointed out, needlessly pointing to the massive ship that was firing long trailed shots that had decimated Apophis' flagship and were now curving in flight to strike the ship they'd just left.

The first Hat'tak hung in space, burning fiercely from what little structure remained intact, then, after a full minute, exploded in a brilliant white flash.

The second Hat'tak, Klorel's, was straining under the enemy ship's fire, its shields were shining brightly as plasma projectiles the size of tanks slammed into its shields, which held for a surprising amount of time, roughly twenty direct hits, before succumbing, three more hits were all that was needed to send the ship to join its sister.

The blast wave washed over the three fighters, causing the systems to fail except SG-1's own radios.

"That was impressive," Jack complimented.

"Glad they're on our side," Carter agreed.

"Don't get ahead of ourselves, how do we know the crew aren't using this attack for their own purposes," Daniel pointed out, "Teal'c, Bra'tac? Do either of you recognise that design?"

"I do not, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated, "the design is unlike anything I have seen or Apophis knows of."

"I agree," Bra'tac concurred.

"_Unidentified fighters, this is the Ardent Prayer, state your identity and intentions or you will be destroyed!"_

"Not good," Jack muttered, "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force, we are escaped prisoners of the force you just destroyed, repeat, we are Friendlies."

The silence was deafening.

"_Colonel O'Neill, permission is granted to land in the Hangar bay, we wish to speak to your superiors."_

"Confirmed, I'll see what I can do, but we lost power when the blast wave from the second Hat'tak hit, we may need assistance," Jack replied.

"_Acknowledged, stand by, we'll try to manoeuvre so the entrance is in you path, but if you have any control, it'd be a good idea to use it, Hangar's pretty crowded."_

"No pressure," Jack muttered, then turned to the task of guiding his fighter into the large vessel.

'This has been one weird day,' he thought as the hangar came into view.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm not decided on who Six will be engaged to, but I'm considering either Kelly 087 or Miranda Keyes.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

A New Day, A New War

**A/N: I just wanted to make a few things clear and answer some questions. And just to be clear, this is AU so i will be messing with certain areas of Canon, so consider my statements below as applicable in Universe.**

**Gaia is the Primordial God of the Earth, Mother Earth, in the Ancient Greek Pantheon, I'm using the name to differentiate between the Halo Earth, Erde Tyrene to the Forerunners, and Stargate Earth.**

**Gaia is not in another universe, but instead is in another galaxy, in this case Andromeda and I'm placing Pegasus between the Milky Way and Andromeda. There is no '**_**True'**_** Earth, rather Erde Tryene is an identical clone of Earth purely by accident, odds are extreme but not impossible. I do plan to have only a few chapters, four to six max though likely less, on events prior to the UNSC's first extra-galactic trip, from there it'll be Six's friends discovering him making his own last stand against Anubis' forces.**

**One point I'd like to make, the Ancients, though I'll call them Lanteans from now on, didn't have any real presence in Andromeda, a handful research outposts and one or two small colonies, Andromeda's humans evolved without interference, the Neanderthals, with only very limited breeding after the Halos fired, so there are very few people with Ancient ancestry, even compared to Tau'ri.**

**About the Spartan programs:**

**First, the Halo wiki states that ONI wasted nothing in regards to the S-II program, even keeping the corpses of those who didn't survive the procedure in order to learn from their mistakes, with most of those who 'washed out' being reassigned to various ONI posts.**

**Second, the S-III program was started, initially, in parallel with the S-II by Colonel James Ackerson, a rival of Halsey's. I'm playing on this and the fact ONI didn't waste the failures. Six is an S-II that was successfully augmented but wasn't up to the same standard as his fellows.**

**The S-IIs are without doubt superior soldiers, able to hold off battalions at a time, but there were never enough to do more than stall the Covenant, Ackerson intended his IIIs to do exactly that.**

**But first he needed to get around the mortality issue and the selective recruiting requirements, and a II that was successfully augmented but wasn't quite up to snuff would seem a good place to start, they'd also be useful to keep around in case a little **_**force**_** was needed in other issues.**

**There won't be any massive fleets or armies and no steamrollered snakes, it took two years to cobble together the X-301 and they cheated on that. No, SGC is going to get a leg up that'll turn the snakes heads but it'll be realistic, they are going to get their own Reach, which Six will name Reach in remembrance, and they will have several ships at least equal to the snakes but no Trafalgar's or Infinity's.**

**I still haven't decided on either Kelly or Miranda, but the first UNSC only chapter will star the chosen lady meeting Noble on Cairo station during the Award ceremony as well as a flashback to how they met/got together.**

* * *

><p>Not for the first time in his life, George Hammond was considering an abrupt retirement. Less than twenty four hours ago, his premier team, SG-1, had defied orders and gone through the Stargate in an effort to stop a theoretical invasion that turned out to be not so theoretical.<p>

Four hours ago, two Goa'uld capital ships had attacked an unknown ship, crewed by people who spoke English, in Earth's orbit and been blown to Kingdom _Frickin'_ Come for their trouble, though not before the Stargate on one of the ships had activated, indicating Apophis had likely escaped.

Two hours ago, SG-1 had returned through the Stargate, claiming to have come from a star system thirty light years away that wasn't on the Goa'uld map, saying they'd been rescued by a mix of American and British soldiers in futuristic armour, one in powered armour apparently, who wished for him to go speak to them?

Not even Jack could make things worse.

"Sir, we really should consider hearing what they have to say."

'_I stand corrected,'_ Hammond thought, rubbing the area just over his eyes as the feeling of a migraine coming on increased.

"Colonel, I appreciate your input, but that is simply not possible at this time," Hammond stated flatly.

"Sir, with all due respect, we really can't afford to alienate these people," Samantha Carter pointed out.

"I realise that, Captain, but the fact remains that the SGC is in a state of chaos," Hammond said placatingly, "I simply cannot go gallivanting off into potential danger without first getting my house in order."

"We also can't risk waiting," Daniel Jackson added, "Apophis now believes Earth has at least one powerful warship at our disposal, what if we wait and he calls the bluff?"

They exchanged worried looks in awkward silence.

"I do not believe Apophis will dedicate any more forces to an attack so soon, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated, "however, as you have said, Apophis now believes we are a credible threat, he may come to the decision our destruction is more valuable than risking his rival's attention."

Hammond gave Daniel a stern look then sighed, "very well, in the interests of our planet's safety, I will agree to your request, however I have to get the SGC back in order. You will return to the planet and open negotiations, explain that I will be delayed a few days until I can get the base in order."

They all nodded and left, each to make their own preparations for the return trip.

* * *

><p>Six smiled amusedly at Captain Carter as she babbled excitedly while poking around in the Pelican's engines, she reminded him of a certain team of Technicians on the UNSC<em> All Under Heaven<em>, a _Musashi-_class carrier.

He looked away and stared at the hull plating, losing himself in the memories of a happier, or at least simpler, time.

"Sir?"

"Sorry, ma'am, just zoned out for a minute," Six apologised.

Sam shook her head, she just couldn't get the Spartan to use her name, "sorry if I'm boring, it's just… this is the first alien technology that we can not only understand, but are capable of replicating, I can't help but be excited…"

"Actually I was reminiscing about a flight deck crew on one of my old posts," Six explained, "they were always energetic, enthusiastic… the shine never wore off for them."

Sam smiled embarrassedly, her biggest flaw was the way she immersed herself in her work.

"So, where were you?"

"I was just going over the thruster controls… and I think I can fix it," Sam continued.

"Here? Now?" Six asked incredulously.

"I think so," Sam repeated, "but I'd need tools from the SGC.

"If you can fix it, do it," Six told her earnestly, "Pelicans are rated for surface-to-orbit travel and vice versa, I can't emphasis enough just how important it is if you can make it usable again."

Sam smiled at him, but her next question was cut off by a very distinctive cheer from the corridor leading to the bow and a faint shout from the corridor leading aft.

"We'd better see what's up," Sam suggested.

* * *

><p>The two reached the bridge to find Colonel O'Neill, Cpl Max Cromer and Pfc Dean Lake (Brooklyn) standing on a platform in the centre of the gunnery section, with Jack dancing next to two opened armoury crates, one UNSC and the other Covenant.<p>

"Sir?" Sam asked uncertainly.

"Space Guns, Carter!" Jack yelled excitedly, "Big Honkin' Space Guns!"

"Alright, who showed him how to open those," Six asked, grinning knowingly as the two pilots pointed at each other.

"Ok, it was me," Lake admitted after a moment, staring as Jack started dancing with Sam.

"So what have we got?"

"One M68 Gauss cannon and four Type-52 plasma launchers," Cromer explained, "I asked Dot if they would be able to build the former and he's been celebrating since she said yes, not that he wasn't already celebrating the fact they can build our standard small arms."

"At least we won't be short on ammo," Six commented, "though I admit I'm glad they may be able to make Army BDUs, Spartans don't usually like to step out of our armour, but I certainly wouldn't mind a shower and change of clothes."

"Amen, LT," Cromer agreed, "gettin' pretty aromatic in here," he stretched his collar in emphasis.

"SIR!"

Everyone stopped to look at Staines and Baker barrelled into the room, dragging a flustered Daniel with them.

"There's two Elites on Ice in the Hold!"

"What?!"

"We missed some?"

"Quiet!" Six barked.

"Elites?" Sam asked.

"Sangheili," Six explained, "one of several races belonging to a religious Hegemony called the Covenant who we were at War with."

"Wouldn't exactly call it a war," Lake grumbled.

"I Would!" Six retorted, "We made them bleed too hard to call it an outright slaughter."

"He's got a point," Cromer added.

"But why were these two on ice?" Six wondered aloud.

"Dissenters… rebels, perhaps," Daniel suggested.

"Maybe," Six agreed, ignoring both the snorts from the Army pilots and their incredulous looks, "Arm Up! We're going to wake them, see for ourselves, but if they're standard fare… give them a warm welcome."

"Sir… you can't honestly expect…" Lake began.

"Insurrectionists, Brooklyn," Six said firmly, staring the man down.

"Sir," the man replied and followed his superior's orders.

* * *

><p>"Here they are, nice and chilly," Baker said, pointing to the only active cryo-pods.<p>

"That how you like them," Jack quipped, fidgeting with the plasma rifle he'd been told to use.

"Normally we like them dead," Six answered, he then ignored the uncomfortable looks sent his way and addressed his AI, "anything?"

"They are listed in the system as Heretics and scheduled for execution by the High Prophet of Truth himself," Dot informed them.

"Heretics? Don't they call us that?" Cromer asked in wonder as Lake ran his eyes up and the down the Elitesicle in curiosity.

"Yes, they do," Six agreed curiously, "among other things. Right, I'll confront them when they wake, I want the rest of you on either side, in cover, and ready to catch these two in crossfire if they're hostile… and don't hold back on the launchers."

"Err… the grenade launchers or the covie stuff?" Baker asked, nervously shifting his 40mm grenade launcher and looking at the Plasma Launcher Jack had somehow acquired.

"My Space Gun," Jack growled defensively, wrapping his arms around the alien boomstick.

"Both," Six nodded, then pointed to the two positions, Daniel and Sam followed Cromer and Lake while Jack, Staines and Baker backed up. Once everyone was in position, Six activated the Thaw Process.

It was a full ten minutes until the pods opened, steam pouring from the joints like an old steam boiler, the transparent covers' seals broke with a snap and hinged up, clouds of steam obscured the interiors until a two fingered, two thumbed hand grasped the rim of the opening.

An Elite Minor slowly heaved himself up, shaking its head and looking very disoriented, then looked at its arms as though expecting to be restrained.

It didn't notice Six, instead it looked over to the second pod in alarm, climbing out and shakily walking over to it, just as the occupant put their hand on the rim…

This hand drew Six's attention, it was slender… more delicate…

The first Elite spoke softly to the other in its mother tongue, he personally didn't know the language but Dr Halsey had surrendered a copy of the Language database the other IIs had collected to Colonel Ackerson the year before so his comm was translating and displaying the subtitles on his HUD, what he read increased his curiosity.

The second Elite climbed out, its body as slender and delicately shaped as the hand implied.

The two embraced intimately, then the second Elite's eyes widened as it saw Six.

"Nice of you to join us," Six commented, making the two Elites spring apart like a couple of caught High school kids.

"Demon…" the larger Elite said disbelievingly, "You released us?"

"You are labelled as Heretics and Blasphemers in the ship's computers," Six said evenly, "it piqued my curiosity as Humans are often called Heretics by Covenant forces and I'm wondering what constitutes blasphemy. I was hoping to get answers before I decided whether to kill you or not."

The two Elites shared a significant look, "our corvette was damaged in battle with one of your ships, the only sensor left fully functional was the Luminary…" the younger began then stopped, expecting an interruption but only saw faint confusion, "I'm surprised you are not asking what a Luminary is."

"I've hijacked several Covenant ships, including an SDV, so I know what a Luminary is," Six replied, "I'm simply surprised you're female, I was under the impression that Sangheili society… discouraged females taking up non-traditional roles."

The female flinched then drew to her full height and glared at Six, "you are correct… I was not content with merely keeping a home, my family has served the Covenant military for many years and I wished to continue that tradition."

"Don't think I'm judging, after all we don't prevent our females from following their dreams," Six said placatingly, "to be blunt, it's a good thing in our eyes as it means the Sangheili formations are only half as strong as they could be."

Both Elites chuckled humourlessly, nodding in agreement.

"The Luminary showed a number of runes aboard the attacking vessel, normally these would be interpreted as artefacts for Reclamation but too many were moving like organics…"

The male picked up the tale, "we realised that the Prophets had lied, the only way Humans would appear under that symbol would be if it was mistranslated, the lone Oracle in our fleet was travelling with us and confirmed our suspicions."

"But first, we had to defend ourselves, we used the Luminary to guide our weapons fire to destroy the ship… for what it is worth, Demon, we are sorry that we have been forced to kill your people," the male continued.

"I accept your apology, but you need to prove you are sincere," Six replied.

They nodded in understanding, the female continued, "the ship was too heavily damaged to repair so our crew was transferred to this vessel and our own was destroyed. We started to tell others about what we'd seen but one of the Jiralhanae informed the Prophet of Regret, who ordered our arrest and imprisonment, we were to be executed by the Hierarch himself."

"So you turned from the Covenant because of an apparent translation error?" Six asked, "Do you realise how crazy that sounds?"

"It is what happened," the male said, shrugging, "it is the Humans, not any Covenant race, that are the inheritors of the God's Legacy, you are the Reclaimers. The Entire Covenant is built on the understanding that the Gods are passed from this life, the Prophets would lose their power if Living Gods appeared."

"I will spare your lives at this time, but if at any time I believe you are a threat to me or my people…"

Both acknowledged the threat, "On our Honour, Demon."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we made it."<p>

"I can't believe we only lost Six," Emile countered, cradling the massive field dressing holding his chest together.

"Six should have been with us," Jorge argued, his hand going to the pouch with his brother's tags.

Emile was about to reply when Carter returned, drawing the CQC expert's attention, "how's Kat?"

"She'll live," Carter said, dropping heavily onto his bunk, "it took a lot of work, but they got the needle out."

"Can't imagine Halsey was happy to work on a III," Emile commented, earning a scowl from Jorge.

Carter was saved from answering by Jun's timely arrival.

"Guys, you'll never believe what I found in CASTLE base," Jun said, holding up a stack of framed holos.

He laid out several holos on the table, the three crowded around.

"That's the Army Commandos, Das Reich, Totenkopf and Viking," Carter pointed out.

"Second only to Spartans," Emile added in respect.

"Now we know why," Jorge said, pointing to the centre of each company.

"No… it can't be?"

"It is," Jorge confirmed as Jun nodded.

Standing in the second row, in the exact centre of the Fifty man units, was Six. Clad in a battered 250 series Army Flak Armour, a peaked cap on his head, arms crosses with a Francisca on his belt he was a full eight to ten inches taller than the rest and was built like a tank, even compared to the physically impressive Commandos.

"Lieutenant Orion Black, Instructor," Emile read aloud, "so he wasn't just a pilot?"

"Evidently not," Jun said, "and that's not all"

He laid out a series of Holos, some still and others animated.

The first showed Six holding a Das Reich trooper off the floor, glaring menacingly as he looked down at the man as two others helped another trooper who'd obviously been decked. They could almost feel Six's glare from the holo.

The next was animated, showing Six leading a squad from Viking through an assault course in a torrential downpour, it captured the feelings of the troopers perfectly as the stumbled and slid after their sure footed leader.

The third showed Six and another instructor standing together next to a sparring ring as the other troopers cheered, a sharp eyed Emile pointed out the credit chit changing hands.

The next was also animated and showed Six in a CQC lesson with several troopers, using the francisca to excellent effect.

The fourth showed Six being buried by a falling snow drift several troopers had dropped on him.

The fifth showed a snowy Six smirking at those same troopers who'd clearly lost a snow ball fight, painfully.

The sixth showed Six refereeing a football (soccer) game between Totenkopf and Viking.

The last were a batch of five, the first showing five Das Reich troopers in a bar next to a pretty and busty woman in a Navy uniform. In the next one of the troopers tried to put the moves on her. In the third, she looked left and smiled at someone. In the fourth she was wrapping her arms around Six and smiling at him. The fifth showed Six dipping her and kissing her passionately, the reactions of the five troopers were absolutely priceless.

But something twigged in Jorge's memory, "Wait? …Is that?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: In case I wasn't clear, this story is AU and I'm changing a few things to fit the plot.**

**This will also be the last chapter before Six's girlfriend is revealed.**

**The majority of the Spartans were primarily assigned to the Navy or ONI with specialist units like Noble in the Army, Marines and Air Force.**

**And Six is not the kid of an S-I, though it's an interesting idea, I might use it for an OC, possibly someone from Gamma company.**

Derelict

"Who'd have thought we'd get so much done in two years?"

Six snorted, "if you'd told me those Ring transporters could be reconfigured to build ships two years ago, I'd have called you crazy," he retorted, tracking the Death Glider lookalike on his HUD, despite his personal opposition to the project he had to admit the X-300 was performing well.

"True," Sam agreed, "we wouldn't have the _Atlas_ without them, or most of the infrastructure on Reach."

Six nodded as Sam checked the flight telemetry, the planet they'd originally landed on after scrapping Apophis' Hat'tak had been renamed Reach and turned into the SGC's own Fortress world, the ground facilities were impressive and had let the SGC field a small army, the discovery of a Stargate Seed Ship had allowed them to capitalise on the discovery that any matter transporter could be reconfigured into an Energy-to-Matter construction matrix. Within three months of taking a blow torch to a set of reprogrammed Ring transporters and fitting the still functioning Ring arcs to robotic arms the SGC had a very advanced but energy intensive production line, that on the small scale this allowed the construction of small arms and later Valkyrie dropships and Thor tanks.

It had been one year before a shipyard had been built in orbit that used energy transmitted from shielded collector satellites orbiting the star to build starship components, after a test run it was configured to construct a new frigate design in one of the slipways, piece by piece. The first of the _Atlas_-class frigates, the TSV _Atlas_, was completed in six months and now on shakedown trials.

The second, _Prometheus_, was 80% complete with all systems installed, the keel of a third, Odyssey, was just laid down in the newly configured second slipway. Six was already penning a first draft for the new cruiser class as Sam did the same for the destroyer class.

"Captain, Lieutenant."

The two turned to see General Hammond approach from a Humvee with another general.

"Sir!"

"At Ease," Hammond said, "This is General Vidrine, he's been assigned to oversee the development of our new space based assets."

"I must commend you both on your success with the _Atlas_ class, with luck we'll see that same success with the other projects," Vidrine said, shaking both officers' hands, "so, how is it performing?"

"Above expectations, though I still think this was a mistake," Six said, indicating the portable computer displaying the Radar telemetry.

"How so?" Vidrine asked, moving to inspect the data.

"First off, we can't build more," Six began, "we cannibalized the 300 from two damaged Death Gliders and we're nowhere near reverse engineering the technology so if it is damaged or a part fails, that's it… assuming it doesn't crash and kill the crew."

Sam gave Six an uncomfortable look as Vidrine looked at him in interest.

"Then there's the X-301 and 302 projects, both based on UNSC designs that are due for testing in the next week and month respectively, one of the reasons the Germans lost WW II was because they had dozens of aircraft and tanks with hundreds of variations, they couldn't maintain a steady logistics chain for such a myriad array of vehicles, like the Germans we don't have the luxury of time, we need a few basic, dependable types now that are easy to produce and maintain and get them in the field, not arsing around on a dead end lab experiment," Six continued, idly noting Vidrine nodding in agreement.

"And finally, we know so little about Goa'uld technology, how do we know it's not booby trapped?"

"Don't jinx it," Jack complained as he joined the group, "General, Colonel Jack O'Neill," he added, saluting to the two Generals.

"He's coming in to land now, sir!" a technician called out, everyone turned to watch as Teal'c brought the hybrid craft in to land, as gracefully as a swan… which is a little unnerving when you're talking about a hypersonic, exo-atmospheric weapons platform.

"How was she?"

Teal'c cocked his head at the General's question, still not used to the Tau'ri tendency to refer to vehicles in the feminine sense, "The craft performed admirably within expected parameters, Sir."

"Woo hoo!" everyone gave Jack an unimpressed look.

"Sorry sir, got caught up in Teal'c's enthusiasm," Jack apologised.

"Questionable humour aside," Six said dryly, earning an indignant comment from Jack, "The next test is a weapons demonstration."

"I'll suit up," Jack said, dashing off to the Humvee.

"Jack's a character sir, but he's our best team leader," Six commented, watching Jack.

"So I've heard," Vidrine said, "so, what'll we be seeing?"

"The first test is two conventional AIM 120 missiles, modified for vacuum, then we'll see the M71 Rail guns and possibly the Chimera micro-missile pods," Six explained, "the first is self-explanatory, the second is derived from a UNSC anti-armour emplaced weapon and the last is derived from the Medusa missile system mounted on the YSS-1000 Sabres my team flew to the _Ardent Prayer."_

"Sounds impressive," Vidrine complimented, "I'm looking forward to seeing them in action."

"_Flight, this is Digger 1, we are go for Lift Off!"_

Six leant over the console, "Digger 1, this is Noble Leader, you are Go for Lift Off, fifty bucks says your one twenties fail against the mock up old man."

"_Noble Leader, first off, who did you bet with? Second, I'll take that bet and enjoy relieving you of you ill-gotten gains when my missiles trump yours."_

"Noted," Six replied, then waited until the fighter had taken off, "I did tell you that I scored six kills with the Medusas your Chimeras are based on defending Anchor Nine, right?"

Sam looked away to resist laughing as Vidrine looked on curiously as Jack took a full three minutes to respond.

"… _Son Of A Bitch!"_

"Digger 1, swing round to two-seven-seven," Six said, glancing at a technician who gave him a thumbs up, "You are Go for Test Fire."

"_Confirmed Flight, beginning our run!"_

Everyone watched the screens, first in anticipation, then confusion… and finally horror as the fighter changed heading mid run, angled towards space and accelerated past escape velocity.

"_Digger 1 to Flight! We are no longer in control of the vehicle. I repeat, we have lost control and cannot eject! Please advise!"_

"Goddammit!"

"I hear you," Sam agreed, "Digger one, this is Fli…"

"_Shol'va! To all those who turn against their god, know this: For your insolence you will die in the cold of space. What is rightfully mine will now return to me."_

"Was that who I think it was?" Six asked in dread.

"_If you think it was Apophis, and that he said that the gliders from which this craft was constructed contained a device designed to return this glider to his homeworld, then yes." Teal'c confirmed._

"…_And he said something about dying?" _Jack added.

"_In the cold of space," _Teal'c confirmed.

"We'd better get back to the mountain," Six advised.

"Move out!" Vidrine ordered.

* * *

><p>The SGC was in a state of chaos when Six returned from donning his refurbished armour, Sam was in the control room trying to come up with a plan.<p>

"Anything?"

Sam shook her head, "we tried a burn using the AIM motors to slingshot around Jupiter but it didn't work."

Daniel hurried in as Anise/Freya of the Tok'ra descended the stairs towards the Gate room, "The Tok'ra have an agent a day away from Earth but… What is that?"

Sam looked at Daniel, who was pointing to a grey sheet of cloth hanging from Six's hip.

"The ensign of the UNSC _Savannah_," Six said firmly, crossing his arms, "I decided to keep it with me as a reminder of my past!"

"Enough, we don't need a dick waving contest right now," Sam said exasperatedly, breaking up the argument.

"Anyway, their agent is on assignment a day away from Earth in a Tel'tak," Daniel finished.

"Follow up that Tok'ra agent, I'll head to Reach to have _Prometheus_ prepped," Six ordered.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Sam asked as Six headed for the stairs, giving the Gate technician his orders on the way.

"No, but if that agent is unwilling to help, _Prometheus_ is our only shot, _Atlas_ is testing their Hyperdrive and we can't contact a ship in Hyperspace," Six countered.

The Gate was spinning to lock the last chevron as Six entered the Gate room, Anise having just left. He waited at the base of the ramp as the vortex roared then settled, he stepped up the reinforced ramp, not hearing the shouts of the Gate technicians as he entered the Gate.

* * *

><p>The wormhole twisted and turned, the lack of sensation would turn the hardest stomachs were the travellers corporeal, the first sign of trouble was a flash to the left of the path, then a burning arc crossed his path…<p>

'_Where am I? …why is everything blurry?'_

I looked around, I was in an alien room, it certainly wasn't human architecture.

"You only delay the inevitable," a voice wheezed.

I look down to my left as an eight gauge roars, a brute in fancy red armour is blown on his back by a woman in UNSC Navy greys.

"…One of you _will_ light the Rings, you can't kill them all!" the voice repeats as the woman draws a pistol in her left hand, aiming at a brute to each side.

"No," the woman lowers both weapons slightly, "I can't," she admits, she turns to a wounded marine sergeant.

I spot a Prophet below, picking up a Spike rifle, I draw my sidearm, a new Magnum plasma pistol, and fire.

* * *

><p>She'd just turned to aim at Johnson when a metallic discharge sounds behind her followed by an inhuman scream, she spins round but movement stops her mid turn as a brute comes at her, she fires both weapons into its gut, the shotgun gutting its shields with the M6 gouging into its flesh. Pain lances through her arm as several spikes punch into her right arm and hip, making her drop the shotgun and fall to one knee as the sound repeats again to her right, followed by a strangled roar from a brute.<p>

"Hoorah! That's what I'm talking about!"

She looks left to see Johnson holding a strange pistol, watching as he fires again, punching a fist sized hole in a brute's gut, blasting through both shields and armour.

Movement in the corner of her eye brings her attention back to the remaining brutes, she fires the magnum, downing another, its bellow deafened by its fellows as a DMR barks, cutting down a third and making the last two near her divert their fire to a figure high above and behind their Prophet.

She fires again, fumbling to reload the magnum when it runs dry, dropping one and putting a trio of rounds into the next which is finished off by the DMR, a heavy MG in the background tells her that any brute reinforcements have run into Noble.

"Demon!" the Prophet hisses, clutching the stub of his ruined arm, glaring up at the figure in grey and blue MK IV armour, "Is there nowhere untouched by your accursed kind! Know this, when we light the Sacred Rings we will cleanse the Universe of You, the weakling Humans and the Parasite!""

She watched the figure draw something from its belt, on his left hip, a UNSC flag draped from his right seemed to flutter in a breeze, one word visible…

_Savannah_.

"Demon?" the Spartan stated, his voice familiar, "no, not Demon… Revenant."

The figure took two steps forward, ignoring the Spartans and Arbiter bursting into the room from a corridor at the back.

"Know this, _Defiler_," the word was spat like the foulest curse, making the Prophet flinch, "As long as one free human lives, the hearts of our people will _Never_ be broken!"

One of the newly arrived Spartans did a double take at those words.

The Spartan fired on a not quite dead brute, painting the Prophet's face in its brains.

"You failed here, Prophet… now your debts are repaid," the Spartan stated, his cold voice striking terror into the alien's heart.

"This… Is for Reach!"

The Spartan threw the weapon at the Prophet, who had less than a second to scream before the axe blade silenced him forever, the Spartan flickered when it struck.

The Spartan who'd reacted before saw the Flag, "Six!"

The mystery Spartan turned but disappeared before anything else could be said.

* * *

><p>"Errr… Just to be clear, I'm not the only one who saw a, pushing up daisies, dead Spartan?" Noble Four asked.<p>

"We all saw him, Emile," Noble Five, Jorge, confirmed, heading over to the spot his friend stood.

"That sure as Hell weren't no Ghost!" Johnson protested, spinning his new pistol in his hand and pointing at the francisca buried in the Prophet of Truth's face.

The Arbiter scowled at the weapon, striding over and yanking it unceremoniously from the Prophet's face, he gave the weapon a hard look but it changed as he gave it a few experimental swings.

"What have you got there, Sergeant?" Noble two asked the wounded NCO after tossing him a can of Biofoam.

"Some fancy plasma pistol that Spartan tossed me," Johnson said, holding up the angular weapon for Kat to see, "blew right through those brute's shields."

"I'd better take that…"

"Not happenin' ma'am," Johnson protested, "knowing Chief's luck, I'll need the firepower, you can have it when we all head home."

"Don't argue, Kat, we need to get going," Carter said, watching her until she headed for the door, "Jorge, take the Sergeant and Commander to the Dawn for treatment."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

><p>The Reach Gate Centre was in near chaos as Six emerged, activity settled down when they saw Six.<p>

"Sir, what happened? You just disappeared from the matter stream," SSgt Maine asked, looking over his console.

"…You wouldn't believe me, Sergeant," Six replied, not entirely certain of what he saw himself, "send a message, Prometheus is to be made ready yesterday!"

The SSgt stares in disbelief for a second but nods and heads to a wall phone, "Yes sir!"

Six headed out of the Gate room and towards the surface, he'd take a warthog to the nearest airfield then grab a Valkyrie to orbit.

* * *

><p>Jack was jogged out of his sleep, he was really light headed for some reason, he looked to his right and saw a familiar face in the cockpit of a large-er ship, "Jacob?"<p>

Jacob Carter smiled through the window, "yes, it's me, Jack, now do as we tell you."

"Do you know your ship's bigger than ours?" Jack asked.

Jacob laughed lightly but was interrupted by Sam, "Hyperspace window opening."

Far behind the two smaller craft, a teal coloured rift opens in space, seconds later an ugly, angular ship shot out, decelerating sharply to a halt behind them. A closer look revealed large parts of the armour missing as well as several missile pods.

"_Digger 1, this is _Prometheus_, we're dispatching a Valkyrie for pick up… how're you holding up old man?"_

Jack was silent for a moment, "Orion? Do you know you've got a bigger ship than me and Jacob?"

"…_I don't know if it's just you, or the oxygen deprivation tal… hang on, is that?"_

Jack looked at the frigate in concern, though a tiny voice in the back of his mind, which sounded remarkably like Daniel, told him he wasn't able to look at his friend, "What's up?"

"_I'll show you when you get over here."_

* * *

><p>Jack wobbled slightly as he led both Carters, Daniel and Teal'c onto the bridge of Prometheus, Six was working at the communications console with two other officers, Colonel Ronson, the ship's CO, was watching from <em>His<em> chair.

"Whatcha got?" Jack asked.

"A UNSC distress beacon," Six answered, "we're calibrating the Slipspace comm array to triangulate its position, it was considered redundant with the breakthrough with Hyperspace communications but was installed as a backup, however that's the reason it's uncalibrated, we didn't think we'd need it as no one in this galaxy uses Slipspace technology."

"Slipspace?" Jacob asked.

"Jacob this is Orion, who also goes by Noble Six or Six, Six, this is Jacob Carter nee Selmak of the Tok'ra," Jack said introducing the two men, who, until now, had never had the fortune to meet.

"Pleasure," Six said, shaking the man's hand, "Slipspace is an alternate spacetime consisting of eleven catalogued non-dimensions that can be used as an alternative to Hyperspace, by moving an object from the temporal and physical dimensions to Slipspace, one changes the Laws of Physics acting on that object, allowing both FTL travel and communications… its slow and dangerous compared to Hyperspace."

"But the fact no one else uses it could allow for secure, relatively, communications," Jacob mused.

"As I said, its slow," Six repeated, turning back to the screen and frowning, "Sam? Would you have a look at this?"

Sam came over and looked at the readout, "its almost like there are two signals, but ones drowning the other out."

"Sir, we have their bearing," the comm officer announced.

Six looked at Ronson anxiously.

"Very well, pass it to navigation, we may as well investigate your ghost ship," Ronson said, nodding to the Nav officer.

"Actually, you might not be far off, the more powerful signal is from a ship that's been missing for twenty years."

* * *

><p>"…<em>Wake us when you need us…"<em>

Those words had haunted her thoughts since the pods had closed, one holding a valued friend, the other…

She didn't know what to think, maybe she'd know if she was flesh and blood instead of bits of data… she knew she'd readily die for him, she definitely treasured the memories of her time with him…

She was snapped from her thoughts by an alarm she'd set years before.

She immersed herself back into the Dawn's systems, spreading her consciousness throughout the ship.

She found what had triggered the alarm, actually two alarms, and examined the readings.

The first thing was a UNSC transponder activating close by, the second was a rift opening in space.

Instantly she turned the ship's remaining sensors on the rift and was astonished by the stream of data as a frigate sized ship emerged, the rift closing behind it.

She then examined the ship, noting the startling similarities to the Paris-class heavy frigates except for the square cross-sectioned main hull the sloped to ninety degrees to a point at the bow in place of the two 'prongs' on a Paris, there was a narrow box platform that extended from the roof of the main hull several metres out onto the dorsal slope, and a smaller equivalent on the ventral that looked like a retractable covering.

There were markings in Anglish on the side, _X-303 Prometheus FFG-002._

An Insurrectionist ship? Maybe, maybe not… time to wake the Chief.

* * *

><p>"I don't believe it!"<p>

There, hanging in space, was the _Spirit of Fire_, silent, sleeping… drifting slightly deeper in system was the arse end of the _Forward unto Dawn,_ which was looking very ragged.

"Sir, permission to take a Valkyrie?"

"Granted, take a team of Drop Troopers with you," Ronson answered, "You're a Friendly to them so you take point, we'll remain on station to assist as necessary."

Six nodded and headed for the Hangar.

* * *

><p>Six boarded the Valkyrie, heading for the cockpit, he nodded to each vacuum suited figure as he passed, earning a nod back, he spoke to the pilot who confirmed they were heading for the Dawn first, he turned around to find five figures climb aboard wearing Navy issue vacuum suits.<p>

"And just where do you think you're going?" Six asked pointedly.

"With you, where else?" Jack replied, settling into one of the seats.

"If you are fit for duty then I'm a Sangheili's dinner," Six retorted.

"Come on, it's not like we're gonna be fighting anyone… unless you slept with someone's wife," Jack shot back.

"Jack's right, it's unlikely there'll be combat, besides I think we're all curious to see a ship from your own civilisation," Jacob said, making Sam and Daniel nod.

"Alright, but no snooping around, there could be anything from defence drones to _very_ paranoid marines in there," Six conceded.

"Got it," they replied.

"_Victor-Two-Zero, this is Prometheus Actual, you are clear for launch, drop in five…"_

* * *

><p>"<em>Chief! Easy, you've been out a while." <em>A female voice said.

"Cortana?"

"_What the Hell's going on?"_ a familiar male voice demanded.

"Johnson?"

"_Give me a minute to restore the ship's systems,"_ Cortana said, a few seconds later droplets started forming on the outside of the pod's canopy and numerous loose objects fell to the deck.

"Where are we?" Chief asked, testing the canopy.

"_We're still adrift on the Dawn," _Cortana explained.

"Why did you wake us?" Chief asked.

"_Chief, hang on, I need to restart your suit's systems," _a second later his HUD flared into life, though not quite what he remembered, _"I rewrote your suit's firmware while you were out," _Cortana finished.

"You've been busy," Chief observed.

"_Chief, I need you and Johnson to look up and activate the manual release,"_ he looked up and grasped the handle, the canopy hissing and shifted as he yanked it down, he then pushed open the canopy and stepped out, Johnson a second behind him.

"I woke you up because the sensors picked up two ships," Cortana explained as the two retrieved the weapons they'd stashed, "one is transmitting a UNSC beacon but seems derelict like us, the second appeared from a strange FTL transition and has launched a dropship, it's heading towards us."

"Ready to get back to work?" Chief asked.

Cortana crossed her arms and smiled, "I thought you'd never ask."

Chief yanked her chip out of the pedestal and inserted into his helmet, "Let's go."

* * *

><p>"She's taken heavy damage," the pilot commented as they approached the ship, "but I'll tell you one thing, no weapon did that."<p>

"It's too clean," Six agreed, "head for the Pelican bay."

"Aye sir."

The transport carefully wove its way through the debris field, until it hovered below the armoured doors of the Pelican bay.

"Try the code," Six suggested.

* * *

><p>"That's weird," the two men stopped at Cortana's voice.<p>

"Something wrong?" Chief asked.

"No… not wrong, just strange," Cortana said, "the approaching transport just used a Fleet code to open the Hangar doors."

"You're right, that is strange," Chief agreed, "Are they hostile?"

"I don't know," Cortana mused, "but I'll direct you to them and try to make contact."

* * *

><p>The two squads had only made it a short way into the <em>Dawn<em> when Six was contacted on a UNSC channel.

"_This is UNSC AI CTN Zero, Four, Five, Two Dash Niner, anyone on this frequency, Please Respond!"_

Six held up his hand and opened the frequency, "This is Sierra Bravo Three One Two of the Tau'ri Defence Forces, hearing you loud and clear!"

"_Sierra Bravo Three One Two? My files say you are Kay Eye Ay?"_

"A Slipspace drive is still a Slipspace drive, it still sends you somewhere when you turn it on," Six explained, "What's your position and the condition of the crew?"

"_Three floors below you, and the only two crew are Sergeant Major Avery Johnson and Sierra One One Seven, both are awake and making their way to you."_

"Caveman's still kicking?" Six asked incredulously then chuckled, "his luck was always skewed in his favour. We'll wait outside the Landing Bay for you, no sense in stumbling around in case we depressurise a section you need to traverse."

There was a chuckle from the AI, _"We'll make our way to you, Cortana out."_

* * *

><p>"Caveman?" Johnson asked with a grin.<p>

"Only one person called me that," Chief noted as they made their way towards the Landing bay.

"And it looks like we aren't alone, after all," Cortana pointed out cheerfully.

* * *

><p>The following fifteen minutes was slightly tense as the Drop Troopers and SG-1 waited with Six, they all jumped to alert as the door leading into the ship cycled, everyone held their weapons ready except Six but kept them aimed at the deck.<p>

"Glad to finally see a Human face," Johnson said, pulling out a cigar.

"Has the ice rotted your brain, Sergeant?" Six asked, deliberately showing his Bar.

"Sir, No, Sir!" Johnson barked, snapping to attention and saluting, Chief saluting too.

"At ease," Six ordered, he then looked Chief in the face, "I never thought I'd see you again, John."

"It's good to see you alive, Orion," John replied, shaking his brother's hand.

"I take it you're looking after the lady?" Six asked.

"Indeed he is," Cortana said as John held his hand out palm up, allowing her to project herself, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant."

"Likewise ma'am, I'd make introductions but that can wait until we check out the _Spirit_," Six replied.

"Lead the way," John said.

* * *

><p>"Captain, wake up, something's happened!"<p>

James Cutter groggily shook his head, trying to clear it as the cryo pod opened, "Serina, what's going on?"

"Two ships are in system sir," the _Spirit's_ AI, Serina, replied, "One is a UNSC frigate, the other is an unknown design similar to a _Paris_ class."

"Wake up Red Team, the ODSTs and the bridge crew, I'm heading to the bridge myself," Cutter ordered.

"I'll wake up Ms Pain and Sgt Forge too," Serina replied, then disappeared.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Cutter was on the bridge of the <em>Spirit<em> inspecting the sensor readouts.

"Captain!"

Cutter looked over his shoulder to see the bridge crew jog in followed by Forge, Anders and Red Team.

"We're stranded in uncharted space with a derelict frigate and an unknown frigate class," Cutter explained.

"Any idea what we're dealing with?" Anders asked, moving forward to inspect the sensor readings.

"Not much, unfortunately the unknown has some kind of low level shield in place," Cutter informed her, "the sensors are getting phantom readings, though not as severe as we see on Covenant ships.

"Sir, the unknown's sensor sweeps have spiked, I think they know we're awake," Serina informed them.

"Very well," Cutter said, he turned to the communications station, "Hail that ship!"

"Aye sir!"

"The moment of truth," Serina quipped.

"Unknown vessel, This is UNSC _Spirit of Fire_, please respond!"

The bridge was silent for a moment.

"Spirit of Fire,_ this is Colonel Ronson of the TSV _Prometheus_, we picked up your beacon and read heavy damage to your port side, do you require assistance!"_

The crew erupted in cheers, Anders even hugged Forge, Cutter smiled at his crew then signalled everyone to calm down, "_Prometheus_, this is Captain Cutter, we are in need of assistance as we've lost our FTL drive and we could use some help with repairs."

"_Acknowledged Captain, I'll dispatch engineering teams once my people return from the _Forward unto Dawn_, the damaged UNSC vessel in system, I'll ask the surviving crew if they can spare their drive as we can't tow a ship your size in FTL, I'll also need to contact my superiors before we take you anywhere,"_ _Prometheus_ replied.

"Confirmed, Prometheus," Cutter replied, nodding in understanding even though they were using an audio only channel, "We'll await you response, Cutter out."

"With luck we'll be able to salvage the Slipspace drive from the Dawn," Forge observed.

"Sir, I've encountered an anomaly," Serina said rather urgently.

"What is it, Serina?" Cutter asked.

"I can't calculate our position, the stars don't match," Serina explained, "Wherever we are, we're a long way from home."

"How long?" Forge asked, not sure if he wanted an answer.

"It is quite possible we are in another galaxy," Serina replied.

"Fuck, how did that happen?"

"I'm uncertain, but it may be that the activation of the Spirit's Slipspace drive in the star caused a Slipspace event to form and, in our escape, we flew into it," Serina suggested.

"Guess we'll need to ask Prometheus for help," Forge said, gazing out the bridge windows at the foreign ship.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: the X-300 is the 301 from Tangent, the X-301 is the Falcon fighter that was cut from Halo Wars, specifically based on the concept art of three fighters flying together, and the 302 is the B-65 Shortsword.**

**The X-303 is a Paris class with the Prong hull replaced by a Daedalus forward hull with a smaller box protrusion on the underside of the nose covering the muzzle of the ship's spinal weapon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I've decided on Six's girlfriend, it's Miranda Keyes and there'll be a flashback and ****Cairo station in the next chapter.**

**The Tau'ri will use a mix of plasma weapons derived from a mix of Goa'uld and Covenant tech as well as borrowed UNSC designs, as in the games it is common to see a charged shot from a plasma pistol followed by a headshot from an M6 or burst from the M7, so they will see the wisdom of using different weapons for different enemies. Though, it would be a bitch to supply ammo for such a diverse array of weapons in real life.**

**Also, as I didn't mention it, the Valkyrie is based on a redesigned Pelican concept art from Halo: Reach.**

**There will also be a gunship based on the Sparrowhawk but using thrusters instead of ducted fans**

Phoenix

Six glanced up at the third depressed sigh since he'd settled into his spot on the Lantean Seed Ship's bridge, a lucky find by SG-5 running like bats outta hell from one of Olokun's Hat'taks in a stolen Tel'tak, but an assignment that was proving increasingly frustrating due to the sheer amount of damage to the outer hull.

The ship's hull was pock marked with asteroid impacts, the logs showed it had flown through a light asteroid belt in its rush to reach the star to recharge its systems, the impacts had eighty sixed the self-repair system and Stargate production line, it was also apparent the Asgard had tried to salvage the ship 50,000 years ago but gave it up as a bad job, but they'd left some very interesting data in the mainframe as a result.

Six turned away from translating the language the ship's computers worked in, being one of only two people who could understand it and Jack had jumped ship, "Cortana, what's bothering you?"

The foot tall woman jumped slightly, seemingly having forgotten she wasn't alone, "what makes you thin…"

"Don't even try," Six warned, "you're more like your sister than you know, out with it."

The AI had the grace to blush, "it's just… I miss John… but I don't know what to do, what to say?"

Six sighed, "You love him."

Cortana's head shot up instantly, blushing furiously, "W-w-what makes y-you think that?"

Six looked her in the eye, "for one, your acting exactly like Miranda did when she first fell for me. Two, you think aloud now."

The AI blushed even harder and looked away.

Six looked at his console, he'd found something while going through the old Transporter logs that could help an ally of the SGC's… _if_ it worked?

"If there was a chance," Six started hesitantly, "to explore your feelings for John, a chance to know love, his love, and him to know your love… would you take it? Even if it meant giving up the existence you know?"

Cortana stared at Six, almost unseeingly, then turned away, "It's impossible."

"Is it?"

Cortana turned to look at Six but was drawn to the Transporter platform as Six typed in a set of commands, calling up a pair of old data matrices from the computer.

The lights and gravity flickered as the battered vessel drew on slightly more power than it had to spare, in a blinding flash the Transporter finished cycling and two figures stood on the platform.

They stood at nearly 2m tall with pale, almost greyish skin, large black eyes, slightly wide noses, small circular ears behind the hinge of the jaw, large almost bulbous heads obviously holding a massive, highly developed brain. One, presumably male from the lack of breasts, external sheath and obvious bulges of internal testicles, had more defined muscles and short black hair, the other, female judging by the breasts, narrow waist, wide hips and no obvious external sexual organs, had platinum hair that fell to her breasts.

The pair blinked in surprise then looked around in confusion.

"Did you just resurrect two Asgard from the past?" Cortana asked in wonder, "and can you speak Asgard."

Six rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I hadn't thought that far ahead, though I can read Lantean decently, I might be able to use a pair of Pads to talk with them… might also want to look at finding them some clothes…"

"Give me a minute," Six collected a pair of tablets as Cortana ran the internal scanners over the pair.

After programming the tablets, he came over and held one out to the pair, the male took it and he started typing.

'_Are two well?'_

The two Asgard shared a confused look but typed back.

'_We are well, but we are confused as to our location.'_

'_We are on lost Ancient star vessel, you information patterns were pulled from vessel machine storage._

The two nodded in understanding, _'Then we take it your people found the ship?'_

'_By accident, yes. Are you Fourth People?'_

The two shared another confused glance, _'We are Odin and Frigga of the Asgard, the Fourth Great Race'._

Six's relieved sigh confused them, but he turned to Cortana, the foot tall projection seemed to intrigue them, "can you get BDUs sized for them, I need to speak to Hammond."

"Of course, but please leave the Pad," Cortana replied.

Six placed the pad beside her holotable, then headed for the hold where they kept a borrowed Goa'uld Stargate.

* * *

><p>"Cortana?"<p>

The AI looked over her shoulder as Six returned, "any word from the General?"

"We have permission to take them to Othala," Six replied, noting that the two Asgard were watching their Pad and exchanged a glance a second after he mentioned the Asgard homeworld.

"We?" Cortana asked.

"Thor took the General up on his offer to have you analyse all the data they have on the Replicators," Six explained, he put the bundle of clothes he was holding onto a console in front of the two Asgard, "so, once they're ready, we will be going to Ida galaxy with the other transformer Jack built."

Cortana gave Six a worried look, "but that'll burn it out, we can't make more."

Six shrugged, "we need to help the Asgard, without them the Protected Planets are screwed, besides we're screwed if the Replicators jump to our galaxy, it's only a matter of time before they find the relevant nav-data and you know it."

"Alright," Cortana sighed, "I'll message John…"

"No, it's just you, me, Odin and Frigga," Six replied.

Cortana stared in confusion but nodded, "yank me!"

* * *

><p>The young AI was glad for the modifications Six had made to his MK IV, the elderly but extensive auxiliary sensor arrays that had been used to prevent cloaked Sangheili ambushing him ensured she was drinking in everything they could relay, with the different types of sensor working in concert, she was quickly overwhelmed.<p>

Othala was, pardon the pun, utterly alien, the style of architecture, the building materials, the sunlight was higher in the infrared spectrum, it was beyond her experiences.

She was spending so much time looking around she almost missed the reaction of their two travelling companions.

"_This is what our race has become?"_ Odin asked in shock and dismay as several 'Modern' Asgard stepped into the open.

There was a flash and chime and an Asgard appeared in front of them in a large control chair.

"Supreme Commander," Six greeted, nodding respectfully, he was the only person at the SGC who could tell Thor apart from other Asgard, though he was just as stumped with the others.

"Greetings Lieutenant Black," Thor greeted in his usual tone, "I see that the Council's fears your claims were false are unfounded. You have done all Asgard a Great Service."

"We may not be the best of people by Asgard standards, but this isn't something any of us would joke about," Six replied, shrugging, "consider it a gift of life, do we need to see the Council or should Cortana and I head to the labs?"

"The Council wishes to speak to our returned brother and sister first," Thor answered, "the labs available do not have access to all our data on the Replicators, but I can see that changing soon, the appropriate arrangements have been made for your Ancilla."

Six nodded and then disappeared in a column of light.

* * *

><p>"How is it?"<p>

Cortana popped up on the holotank, nearly lifesize, "honestly, I feel a little spoiled, the Seed Ship has far greater capacity but is in such bad shape I can't enjoy it, I can really stretch myself out to my limits and come nowhere near the walls."

Six smiled, "any luck? The best I have is using highly charged anti-Kerons in a tokomak that discharge like an EMP."

"That might actually work," Cortana said thoughtfully, "I was leaning towards the EMP idea with normal Kerons, but has promise. I also thought of a Keron nullifying beam, even have a prototype drawn up…"

"Might be best if we tried all three," Six was interrupted by a transporter activating.

"Greetings Lieutenant, Cortana," Thor said, beside him was another, grumpy looking, Asgard.

"Commander," Six bowed his head respectfully, "we've come up with a few ideas that may work, but we'd need one of your scientists to look it over."

"Hermiod has been assigned to assist you," Thor replied, indicating the other Asgard.

"While I find it hard to believe that a primitive such as yourself could find a solution when we could not," Hermiod stated in a tone that implied he'd be sneering were he human, "however, I must concede that a fresh perspective is required."

"Take a look at these, in theory they're fool proof," Six said, handing the pad with the notes for the Anti-Keron tokomak on it "but I don't have a full grasp of the maths."

Hermiod took the pad and read through, his expression changing to curiosity, then wonder to finally rest on shock, "I-I don't believe it! Less than a day and you've come to an answer, How?"

"As you said, a fresh perspective," Six pointed out, "You've advanced to a point where your technology has compensated for problems you'd have had to think of unorthodox alternatives to counter millennia before, your solution in this war was to throw more advanced technology at it, beginning an arms race that could only leave you living on borrowed time. We're still stuck thinking of ways around problems, so we can look at the issue from an angle you no longer can."

"I must relay this to the Council," Hermiod started.

"The Commander and I can do that," Six said, "you need to start now if you want to get a prototype finished for the new fleet."

Hermiod nodded and bustled over to the station as Six left the room with Thor.

They walked in silence through a few corridors before Six spoke, "There's another reason I wanted to come with you."

"I deduced as much," Thor replied, "hence why we are walking instead of using the transporter.

"Cortana is a Third Generation Smart AI," Six explained, "Smart AI are based on the neurological imprint of a human brain, this means they are considerably more capable than Dumb AI as well as possessing fully developed personalities, however they only have a short operational life span before the matrix at the heart of their code begins to fail."

"And Cortana is reaching the end of her normal life span," Thor nodded once in understanding when Six nodded, "I take it you wish us to examine her code architecture to prevent this?"

Six stopped, surprising Thor who'd never known the Spartan to be nervous.

"No… what I would like… what she'd like, though she thinks it's impossible… is to give her a human body of her own."

Thor blinked in surprise, that was a tall order though given his people's method of longevity not impossible, "Is this why you helped us? To leverage the debt against your request?"

Six didn't know it, but Thor was testing him, his face darkened and his hand twitched towards his combat knife.

"I may have been abducted and beaten into a living weapon, but I am Not SOULESS!" Six growled, "If I was inclined then I would have withheld both the theory notes and your brother and sister. I ask because my own brother in all but blood is very attached to Cortana, she in turn has become close to him and has begun healing him of the scars wrought by those who stole us from our homes. I want my brother healed and happy… to realise he's more than one world's weapon."

Thor lowered his head, "I did not mean offence, but I had to be sure of your intentions, what you ask will not be easy."

Six sighed and walked over to the window along one side of the corridor, it looked out onto a lake with a beautiful city beyond.

"Cortana was made from a clone of the brain of the scientist who ordered my abduction," Thor looked openly shocked, a hard thing to see on an Asgard, "She is also the mother of the woman I intended to bond with as my Lifemate."

"Before my last deployment, Miranda gave me this locket, it was originally given to her by her father," Six turned and showed Thor the item, in it were three pictures, taped to each were locks of hair, two black one blonde.

"It originally only held her parent's pictures and hair, but she added her own when she gave it to me," Six continued, "I was hoping that the three sets of DNA would allow you to grow a body that would genetically be Miranda's sister, seeing as Cortana is technically her half-sister, then transfer her into the body in the same was you do with your own consciousness's."

"It may be possible," Thor conceded, actually it would be pretty hard to screw up with the genetic data provided, "I take it you would like her appearance to resemble her avatar?"

"It's most likely the form she'd be comfortable with," Six shrugged, "also, it might be best if you didn't mention it to her until you know one way or the other if it'll work, I don't want to give her false hope."

"I will speak to Kvasir and Heimdall," Thor promised, taking the locket, "but first we must see the council."

* * *

><p>"I take it you've been celebrating?" Cortana and Hermiod looked to the door to see Six walk in.<p>

"Somewhat," Cortana admitted, "putting us to work together really sped things up."

"I know, Tyr's already gloating about the refits," Six shot back, he and Thor had bumped into the Commander of the Third Heavy Cruiser Flotilla while visiting an orbital dock.

"He would," Hermiod agreed, "the first ships will soon be ready, I think I will join the Supreme Commander and observe."

"Sounds good to me," Six agreed, "Coming?"

"And miss all the fun?" Cortana said teasingly, "yank me."

"You've been hanging round John and Johnson too long," Six muttered, pulling Cortana's chip.

* * *

><p>Hala was one of the Asgard's oldest colonies, it was also the last lost with only a limited Replicator presence and a significant amount of debris.<p>

Two Replicator controlled _Beliskiner_ wound their way throw the debris field, periodically slowing in order to collect surviving technology, the defending ships had fought hard and the surviving surface defences had actually brought the Replicators to a halt, the other three Replicator controlled vessels were currently descending in order to change that.

The teal rifts of Hyperspace windows erupted just beyond the debris field, making the Replicator vessels pause in their work before turning to face this new threat.

* * *

><p>"Replicator vessels are turning to engage!"<p>

"Wait until all five ships are well within range," Six advised, "we don't want a ship to escape with sensor data of the weapons in use, they'd develop an immunity."

Thor nodded in agreement, "indeed, that would be disastrous. Let them close."

"This will either be a quick victory or a quick death," Cortana commented over Six's helmet speakers.

"If any of you are religious, now's the time to start praying," Six added, glancing around quickly when he heard several Asgard actually do that.

"The first two vessels are in range, they are firing!"

The ship shook as the weapons fire impacted the shields, "Shields dropped by twelve percent!"

Six silently added his own prayer, there really wasn't much outside an Asgard armoury that could drop an Asgard shield by double figures, he kept a close eye on the three ships leaving the atmosphere at full sublight burn.

'_Thirty seconds'…._

"Down to sixty four percent!"

'_Twenty seconds'…_

"Down to Forty Percent!"

'_Ten seconds!'_

"Commander!"

"All Ships, Fire!" Thor ordered.

* * *

><p>Pale violet teardrops shot from the wings of the battered Asgard ships and surged through the void to wash over the enemy vessels, sections around the impact points lost power and surrounding hull lights began to flicker, more of each ship died with the successive hits.<p>

The first ship was cold and silent in under a minute with the others following soon after.

* * *

><p>"We are Victorious," Thor announced, most of the crew inclined their heads in acknowledgement as the rest of the refitted fleet drops out of Hyperspace over the colony.<p>

"Commander, we've been ordered to return Lieutenant Black to Othala, his superiors are recalling him," an officer said.

"Can I leave Cortana in case you need assistance?" Thor understood his real message.

"Arrangements will be made," Thor promised.

* * *

><p>I stand at the base of the ramp, taking in the face of every soldier, marine and airmen I'm leading on this mission…<p>

A Noble Mission…

I glance at the gate as it starts to spin, then back to the platoon.

"All right, Listen Up!" they all look at me, "cause I think you should know the truth, as I see it."

I sigh heavily, looking to each face as I start, "This mission is not meant to succeed," I have their attention now, "if they were honest, they'd tell us that."

"Tell us, that with the number of people likely to die, who cares about art, books, things like that…"

I glare as I see some troopers nodding, "They're wrong! Because it's exactly what we are fighting for! For our culture, our way of life!"

"One thing the Gould got right is how to conquer an enemy," I explain, not seeing the control room fill with people, "you wipe out a generation, burn their homes to the ground, drive them from their lands… somehow, they'll still come back."

"But if you destroy their achievements," I continue, gazing over the platoon, "destroy their history, their culture, then it's like they never existed, just… ash, floating in the wind"

"The Gould take this to another level, their culture is stagnant, there's very little technological progression, what they have they stole from others," I can see understanding in the eyes of several, surprisingly most are marines, "the Tollan aren't the first to escape the Gould, we hold _that_ honour, neither are they the first to advance to a position of equality, nay superiority… no, but they are the latest and if we don't succeed, they will be the last."

Realisation hits the entire platoon, "The Gould will burn Tollana to ash then sift through the ruins, the shattered cities a macabre monument to the futility of resistance for generations yet unborn, the technological wonders plundered to further the snake's dominance, and the Tollan?"

"The Tollan will be a faint memory, remembered only as a myth among Jaffa and slaves. I have stared in the face of Extinction, I have felt my soul torn asunder by the fear that tomorrow my race may be erased from history, I have lost count of the brothers and sisters in arms I've seen become Martyrs so that innocents may see tomorrow's dawn."

The gate opens behind me; I can almost fell the vortex reach out to me as I stand there, the open gate framing my body.

"That is why I am going, to save a people from being erased from history because of their own pride, to save them from their own arrogance and stupidity," I look over them one last time.

"So that the Tollan people will rise again, just as we have in our darkest hours. It is unlikely many of us will return, so I will not hold it against you if you do not follow… but those who join me, know this may be your last day on Earth."

I turn around and walk toward the gate, but as I do I set a message packet to be transmitted back to my home Galaxy, I doubted the message would get there, but my mind was eased now I'd sent it… I just hoped she'd get… that she'd understand.

I stepped into the gate, I didn't know if I'd survive the day, but I knew this battle would make or break our Fleet.


End file.
